Moran leads STEM Fair winners

Matt Moran of Mt. Carmel School poses with his winning project after last Saturday’s 2016 Science Technology Engineering Mathematics Fair held at Saipan Southern High School. (Jon Perez)

Mt. Carmel School freshman Matt Moran led the list of winners of the 2016 Science Technology Engineering Mathematics Fair held last Saturday at Saipan Southern High School. He won Cluster 4, the ninth to 12th grade category.

The 13-year-old’s entry was harnessing Energy and Gas from garbage or waste products from fruits and vegetables. He also used yeast in his experiment

“My project focused on discovering if there’s energy we can harness from waste products or stuff that we usually throw away,” said Moran, who was accelerated twice.

Moran’s experiment used apple cores and peels, onions, and cabbages in producing biogas or methane in inflating some balloons. Methane gas could also be turned into energy, such as electricity that could power a light bulb or charge a mobile phone.

Moran said that the onions soaked in water proved to be the most effective among the three waste products that he used. He also used water with Clorox but the chlorine killed the bacteria that formed methane.

According to his father, Michael, his son first won in MCS’ school-wide competition in the 9th to 12th graders. “MCS president [Galvin Deleon Guerrero], when he announced the winner that the student was not a junior or a sophomore but a freshman.”

Tina Choi of Marianas Baptist Academy placed second with her entry Mathematical Models Predicting Primary Numbers, while Marianas High School’s Robert Malate, a member of the two-time Real World Design Challenge national champions Aeronautical Dolphins, came in third with his entry, Production of Biodiesel Fuel from Vegetable Wastes.

STEM Fair chair James Sablan, the principal of San Antonio Middle School, congratulated all students who joined and thanked everyone who helped organizing this year’s event.

“It was a pretty good turnout with a lot of good entries from the students. It is always nice to see our sister islands from Tinian and Rota join the competition. We welcome all public and private schools to always join. We’re looking forward for a bigger STEM Fair next year,” said Sablan.

“Thank you to all the teachers who volunteered their time after school just to help with the organizing of the STEM Fair. Also to AmeriCorps, and students from Saipan Southern and Marianas high schools,” he added.

Tinian Elementary School’s Juris Gian Cabarles (May The Force Be With You) topped Cluster 1 for Kinder to second grade, while Garapan Elementary School’s Drianna Jucutan (Don’t Cry Over Spilled Oil) shed tears of joy while accepting her second place medal. Eamon Tang of Northern Marianas International School came in third with his Artist Robot entry.

John Anthony Tobongbanau Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja, who placed third last year in the K-2 Cluster, returned to Rota with the first place medal in the Grades 3-5 Cluster with his Coconut Water Energy. Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School’s Hellen Carhill’s The Effect of Beverages on Bones came in second, while Mefi Norech of TES’ Homemade Incubator was third.

Rota had a 1 and 3 finish in the Grades 6-8 category with How to Purify Water by ESFDB’s Angelo Lucero coming on top and Cleaning Oil Spills by Jed Sta. Teresa of Grace Christian Academy-Rota placing third. Victoria Dela Cruz of Hopwood Junior High School, Salt Water Circuit, finished second.